The sheriff of Eddy County (North Dakota’s smallest county) has been giving all he’s got to protect his beautiful area from growing drug abuse over recent years. He is out on the county’s streets enforcing a lot more traffic stops in an effort to reduce or totally stop drug traffickers. This increased enforcement, though, has also resulted that quite a few community members now are ditching drugs in whatever way they can be thinking of.

Eddy County’s population is under 2,500 people, and quaint towns like New Rockford (population just under 1,400) are typically rather sleepy, but for some time now, after the county’s sheriff had noticed some severe increase in drug abuse, the people have seen also an increased number of traffic stops. Eddy County Sheriff Paul Lies says that, although the community is pretty small, he was taken by surprise by the number of drugs and narcotics that were around in the community.

The results are actually quite shocking. Over the past years, sheriff’s officials have been making a huge number of arrests, they found several pounds of marijuana and other drugs like meth and an astonishing amount of cash dollars. The sheriff is trying hard to reduce the drug use in the community and to cut the drug trafficking off right at its source. Sheriff Lies says that as a result of the sheriff’s office’s efforts, local drug users now want to get rid of these narcotics within the local communities because they are getting afraid to get caught with the illegal substance.

Some people are so desperate in their attempts to not get arrested that they’re dropping their drugs anywhere they can (literally!). Sheriff Lies says that one of the local farmers call his office to inform them that he had discovered a bag full of marijuana. Indeed, the sheriff picked up a garbage bag totally filled with marijuana from one of the (usually quiet) county roads. The sheriff now thinks that tiny Eddy County may very well be part of a much larger drug trafficking network and transportation route.

The Eddy County sheriff thinks that because the community is so centrally located and pretty close to the reservation as well as some larger communities, lots of illegal narcotics and drugs are passing through his jurisdiction. He points out that anyone who’s caught trafficking illegal drugs will face up to ten years in prison, and that their cash and cars will be seized. They better beware!

Sheriff Lies was appointed a little over three years ago and he doesn’t expect his anti-drug trafficking campaign will be over anytime soon, though the successes he and his team have accomplished are remarkable. He wants to keep p his good work, though. The sheriff says that he is not going to tolerate drug trafficking through this otherwise great community anymore and that violators will be punished accordingly. Paul Lies is a fantastic sheriff who is absolutely determined to stop this violation and support his hometown and Eddy County in the efforts to remain the fine area it has been for so long. Great effort!